The Rywaczuks Return: Mahood Lake

Hi again! It’s us—the Rywaczuks!

We just set out for our second camp of the season. This time, we chose Mahood Lake. So many locals told us that it is the place to go, so we took their word for it.

We took out a nice, new Coachmen Catalina RV from Chemo RV for this camping trip—and loved it! This unit has nice light-coloured cabinetry, dark wood-looking floors, modern features and a big fridge and freezer. A few of our favourite features were the huge windows, the big sturdy steps and the nice big sofa. We’ve found that most sofas in trailers are too narrow—but not this one. It was nice and big, squishy and comfortable!

The road in to Mahood was pretty rough, not gonna lie… A week straight of rain didn’t help the road conditions at all. When we arrived at our spot, it was pretty muddy. But, what a gorgeous park to camp in!

The forest surrounding it is almost like a boreal forest. So much green and so many wildflowers, massive leaves, trees and bunches of bright green leaves—leaves as tall as me!

A perfect spot for our hammock, tarp, trailer and, of course, us!

We got settled in. The girls were starving, so we made some chicken soup. After the girls finished eating, we wandered around the park and found a beautiful, sandy beach and great little playground.

We talked to the park rangers—a woman and her husband from Clearwater. She told us a little history about how, back in the 1939, a couple named Florence and Benjie McNeil built a lodge on Mahood. It was built entirely out of logs and complete with 13 guestrooms. It was always full of visitors from all over—including celebrities!

The lake was featured in write-ups by travel writer Duncan Hines. The couple sold the lodge in 1959 and it burned down in 1962. The Mahood Lake campground now lives on the site of the lodge.

The park ranger told us about a few trails that we should visit: Whale Trail, Canim Falls and Deception Falls. She also told us about the catch and release at the mouth of the river just up from the park and a few more tidbits of information about the area.

We decided to head to Deception Falls for a hike. It was about a 20-minute drive from the park—and a nice drive! Lush forests surrounded a narrow dirt road that led to the falls.

We sprayed ourselves with bug spray before venturing up the trail. We hiked up the 0.8 km trail to the reach the waterfall.

Ava got pulled down by our dog Millie, who had just encountered her first squirrel. A few scrapes but no tears—and a lesson learned to let go of the leash when you’re a tiny six-year-old trying to hold a big puppy!

The falls were rushing with so much water. The fence at the lookout point was down and broken, so we didn’t venture too far off the trail as it was wet and slick.

The girls loved the waterfall. They find the sounds of waterfalls relaxing. They also love tossing sticks or pine cones into the water and watching them as they fall…Usually with waterfalls much smaller than this one!

Von taught the girls to sip water droplets off of leaves for a drink. A good survival skill! We checked out some mushrooms, berries and the beautiful natural scenery. It reminded all of us of a coastal forest.

While we were hiking Sophie said “I love the smell of rain in a forest!” It made me smile. Teaching our girls to love being in nature.

We drove back to our site, started the fire and the girls crawled into the hammock and played for a bit.

Afterwards, Ava and I walked the beach and found a big dead fish, a frog, and lots of feathers and driftwood.

Sophie and Von made a dinner of camping hash, a mixture of sausages, onions, mushrooms and peppers. I had a Beyond Meat burger.

We made a pot of coffee and hung out by the fire while the girls ventured off to the playground and made new friends. The best part of camping for kids, right? Meeting other camp kids!

After a nice day, we all got in our warm and cozies and stuck around by the fire. We had a few snacks and called it a night.